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Red Earthquake alert in Haiti

 

Generated on 7/29/2010 2:35:52 PM

Red Earthquake Alert in Haiti

Summary

On 1/12/2010 9:53:09 PM UTC an earthquake of magnitude 7 and depth 10km has struck an very highly populated area in the Ouest Province (population: 2.2 million) in Haiti. GDACS estimates the likelihood for need of international humanitarian intervention to be high (Red alert).

This earthquake can have a high humanitarian impact since the affected region is very highly populated and has medium resilience for natural disasters.

The earthquake 15km from the city of Port-au-Prince. The nearest populated places are Bras Droit (11km), Au Silence (14km), Aboni (15km), Henry (2km), P_tionville (18km), Bellevue (13km).It is a mountainous region with a maximum altitude of 2532 m.

Humanitarian Impact impact 
Population resilience vul 
Tsunami probability tsunami 
Landslide probability slope 
Nuclear radiation probability radiation 

Caution: this information is based on risk models. Whether international humanitarian aid is needed must be decided by an expert.

This report was automatically updated by a computer on: 1/12/2010 10:20:15 PM UTC (27 minutes after the event)

Downloads: Word report, PDF report

Explanation of alert calculation: Show

Google map Population map
poplegendPopulation Density near epicenter (people/km2). Image area: 6x4 decimal degrees (approx. 650x450km2).
population map

Earthquake epicentre: best estimate eq_logo    previous estimates: eq_icon

Earthquake Event

Geological map
geological map

Characteristics for this report

Information source World Data Centre for Seismology, Denver (NEIC)
Link to source event report (us2010rja6)
PAGER report (2010rja6)
Magnitude 7 M
Depth 10 km
Location

Geographic coordinates (latitude/longitude): 18.4514, -72.4452
Haiti , Ouest Province (population: 2285044).
Seismic region: Haiti Region.

The earthquake happened in Haiti , Ouest Province (population: 2285044). , 15km from the city of Port-au-Prince. The nearest populated places are Bras Droit (11km), Au Silence (14km), Aboni (15km), Henry (2km), P_tionville (18km), Bellevue (13km).

It is a mountainous region with a maximum altitude of 2532 m.

Time time 1/12/2010 9:53:09 PM (UTC, Universal Standard Time)
1/12/2010 5:03:22 PM (Estimated local solar time)
Tue, 1/12/2010 22:53 CET (Brussels, Paris, Rome)
Tue, 1/12/2010 16:53 EST (New York, Washington)
Tue, 1/12/2010 13:53 PST (San Francisco, Los Angeles)
Wed, 1/13/2010 05:53 AWST (Australian Western Standard Time)

Previous reports for this earthquake.

Earthquake reportTsunami reportEvent Date/TimeLat/LonMagnitudeDepth (km)SourcePublication Date/TimeDelay
728071/12/2010 9:53:08 PM UTC18.58, -72.547.30PTWC (pt10012001)1/12/2010 10:11:25 PM UTC18min
728081/12/2010 9:53:14 PM UTC18.55, -72.476.540EMSC1/12/2010 10:11:27 PM UTC18min
728091/12/2010 9:53:09 PM UTC18.4514, -72.4452710NEIC (us2010rja6)1/12/2010 10:20:15 PM UTC27min
728121/12/2010 9:53:10 PM UTC18.47, -72.567.210EMSC1/12/2010 10:20:21 PM UTC27min
729361/12/2010 9:53:10 PM UTC18.47, -72.557.110EMSC1/13/2010 7:50:15 AM UTC597min

Earthquake Impact Details

shakemap

Potentially affected People

The population in the area of this earthquake if 429 people/kmē. (Data source).

The earthquake occurred at 17h local time. At this time a day, more people are at work and therefore more vulnerable to collapsing office buildings. During traffic hours, people can be affected by collapsing bridges and other road infrastructure.

Population Data
Radius (km) Population Density (people/kmē)
1
2 78 
5 1972  25 
10 74610  237 
20 2165940  1723 
50 3369442  429 
100 5416689  172 
200 10024150  79 

Damage

The affected region has low level of urban area (0%) and a high level of cultivated area (15.4%). In urban areas more damage can be expected than in cultivated or natural areas. (Data source)

Radius (km)urban areascultivated areasother
200 0.02% 15.44% 84.52%
100 0.04% 27.75% 72.19%
50 0.15% 34.76% 65.07%
10 0% 52.36% 47.63%

Resilience and Vulnerability

Resilience is the capacity of the population to cope with a hazard. Since much of investments in earthquake preparedness and available funds for quick response is related to household income, the GDP per capita can be used as a rough indicator of resilience.

Haiti has a GDP per capita of 370 PPP$ (Parity Purchasing Power Dollar, about 1 Euro) and is therefore part of the medium level income countries. Therefore, the earthquake happened in an area of medium resilience.

Based on the combination of 9 indicators, ECHO attributes Haiti a medium vulnerability.

ECHO Intervention Priority Ranking for Haiti
vulnerabilitylevel
Overall situation
Human Development hdi
Human Poverty hpi
Exposure to Major Disasters
Natural Disasters natdis
Conflicts conflicts
Humanitarian effects of population movement
Refugees refugees
Internally Displaced People idps
Health and Nutrition
Undernourishment food
Mortality rates under5
Donor contributions
Official Development assistance ODA
Source ECHO
Key: bad Bad - medium Medium - good Good - nodata No data

Exposure

Both conditions for survival and conditions for delivering aid strongly depend on the current weather and temperature. The following graphs show the current and forecast weather.

Current weather conditions and forecasts at earthquake location (lat: 18.4514 - long: -72.4452) (Data source).

Temperature chart currently not available. Try to refresh page.
Precipitation chart currently not available. Try to refresh page.
Cloud cover chart currently not available. Try to refresh page.

More detailed observations at closest weather station (Mais Gate): WeatherByWeb - NOAA

Probability of Secondary effects

slopelevel Landslides: The maximum slope in the area of the earthquake is 47.078% and the maximum altitude is 2532 m. Since this is a medium slope, the risk of earthquake induced landslides is medium. Note, however, that the slope data is not reliable on a local scale, while landslides depend very much on local topography, soil and meteorological conditions. More...

Critical infrastructure

The following critical infrastructure is nearby and could be affected by the earthquake:

The distance to nuclear installations is evaluated based on a 1999 UN dataset containing the location of nuclear plants in the world. If plants are near and the earthquake magnitude is above 6.5, the alert is set to orange. Note that the location of plants is approximate with errors of up to 100km.

Getting there and away

The nearest civilian airport (Mais Gate) is at 21km from the epicenter. The Civil airfield of Bowen is located at 17km from the epicenter. Other airports are: Cabo Rojo (103km), Jacmel (24km), Barahona Habanero (141km), Les Cayes (143km), Bowen (17km), Mais Gate (21km), Jeremie (183km), San Juan De La M. (135km), Constanza (189km), Dajabon (147km), Cap Haitien (145km), Port-de-paix (170km)

Ports nearby are: Cabo Rojo (103km), Les Cayes (140km), Barahona (146km), Jacmel (27km), Aquin (102km), Puerto Viejo De Azua (170km), Petit Goave (45km), Puerto Viejo De Azua (186km), Miragoane (68km), Azua (182km), Port-au-prince (15km), Jeremie (177km), Fond Mombin (34km), Saint Marc (78km), Gonaives (114km), Fort Liberte (150km), Manzanillo (157km), Cayman Brac (148km), Cap Haitien (148km), Port De Paiz (171km)

Disclaimer

While we try everything to ensure accuracy, this information is purely indicative and should not be used for any decision making without alternate sources of information. The JRC is not responsible for any damage or loss resulting from the use of the information presented on this website.

 

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